Funding
E-commerce group Alibaba led a $60m extension to China-based augmented reality glasses brand Nreal’s series C round yesterday. The cash will be added to the $100m provided by Nio Capital, the venture capital firm formed by electric carmaker Nio, in addition to Sequoia Capital China, Yunfeng Capital, Hongtai Aplus, Citic Private Equity, GP Capital and GL Ventures in September 2021 at a reported $700m valuation. The company said it has now raised a total of $200m in the past year.
HackerRank, the US-based operator of an online recruitment platform for software developers, secured $60m yesterday in a series D round led by Susquehanna Growth Equity (SGE), a subsidiary of quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group. Human resources firms Recruit and Randstad also took part, the latter through its Innovation Fund, as did JMI Equity and Khosla Ventures. It valued HackerRank at about $500m, co-founder and CEO Vivek Ravisankar told TechCrunch.
Blockchain game developer Animoca Brands added $10m to India-based digital health services provider Goqii’s series C round yesterday, increasing it to $60m. Sumeru Ventures led the $50m first close last month, investing with conglomerate Mitsui, media group Bennett Coleman & Co, 9 Unicorns, Venture Catalysts, Akbar Khan, Sanjay Narang nd funds advised by MegaDelta while venture debt came from investors including Blacksoil Capital and Trifecta Capital.
Video game group Aonic Group invested $35m in UK-headquartered virtual reality game studio nDreams yesterday. The latter identified VC fund manager Mercia Asset Management as its other current minority investor.
NGP Capital, the VC firm funded by communications equipment producer Nokia, led a $28.5m series B round for US-based revenue data provider BoostUp.ai yesterday. The round also featured Canaan, Emergent Ventures and Bethnal Green Ventures along with undisclosed private investors.
RNAimmune, a US-based developer of mRNA-based therapeutics and vaccines, raised $27m yesterday in a series A round co-led by RNA therapeutics developer Sirnaomics. The round was co-led with investment fund Smooth River and a vehicle managed by Rotating Boulder Fund.
Growth equity fund Viola Growth led a $26m series B round for Israel-based property management and investment software provider Home365 yesterday that the company said also featured existing investors that may include Verizon Ventures and Samsung Next – subsidiaries of telecommunications firm Verizon and electronics producer Samsung. Both took part in Home365’s $16.3m series A round in July 2021.
Lubricant producer SK Lubricants provided $25m in equity funding yesterday for GRC, a US-based provider of liquid immersion cooling products for data centres. GRC had previously received $7m in series B funding from undisclosed private investors in July 2020.
US-based remote IT services provider Electric has secured $20m in a series D-1 round featuring Slack Fund, the strategic investment vehicle of enterprise messaging app developer Slack, TechCrunch reported yesterday. The deal valued the company at $1bn post-money and also featured Harmonic Growth Partners, Vintage Investment Partners and Greenspring Associates.
Software producer Microsoft’s M12 subsidiary co-led an $18m seed round for Israel-headquartered mobile game platform developer Kooply yesterday with VC firm TPY Capital. The round included Samsung Next, a subsidiary of electronics producer Samsung, as well as Aleph Venture Partners, Entrée Capital and Glilot Capital Partners. M12 partner Irad Dor is joining Kooply’s board of directors along with Dekel Persi and Guy Yamen from TPY Capital and Raz Friedman from mobile casino game developer Playtika.
Gas distributor Italgas has invested $15m in Picarro, a US-based developer of sensors designed to monitor gas distribution networks. Paolo Gallo, chief executive and chief operating officer of Italgas, is taking a seat on Picarro’s board of directors in connection with the transaction.
US-headquartered e-commerce services provider Airhouse completed an $11m series A round yesterday that included freight forwarder Flexport and shipping management software provider Easypost. VC firm DNX Ventures led the round, which also featured Elizabeth Street Ventures, Gaingels, RemoteNative Ventures, Trajectory Capital and angel investors James Beshara, Alexis Ohanian, Andrew Farah, Austin Rief, Jeff Weinstein and Manik Gupta.
US-based machine learning technology startup OmniML raised $10m in series A funding yesterday from investors including Qualcomm Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of mobile chipmaker Qualcomm. The round was led by VC firm GGV Capital and also backed by Foothill Ventures, Matrix Partners, Tectonic Ventures, Fellows Fund, IMO Ventures and GSR Ventures.
Japan-based financial education provider ABcash Technologies received ¥1.2bn ($9.8m) today in a series C round featuring financial exchange operator Monex Group and Aflac Ventures, FFG Venture Business Partners, Mitsubishi UFJ Innovation Partners and SBI Investment, representing insurer Aflac and financial services providers Fukuoka Financial Group, Mitsubishi UFJ and SBI respectively. The round included SV-Fintech Fund, a partnership between media company Voyage Group and VC firm SV Frontier. and Hamagin DG Innovation Fund, which was co-founded by internet company Digital Garage and financial services firm Bank of Yokohama.
Energy technology producer Nabors Industries provided $8m in funding for Slovakia-headquartered geothermal energy project developer GA Drilling yesterday. GA said it has raised over $20m between the Nabors investment and additional funding it recently closed.
Japan-based beauty brand Dinette secured ¥800m ($6.6m) today in a series B round featuring digital marketing group Ceres, internet company MTG and brokerage Daiwa, the latter two through their MTG Ventures and Daiwa Corporate Investment units respectively. The round included an undisclosed amount of debt financing from financial institutions including Mizuho Bank.
Air carrier United Airlines has invested $5m in US-based sustainable aviation fuel developer Cemvita Factory through corporate venturing arm United Airlines Ventures, Bloomberg reported yesterday. The cash was supplied together with an undisclosed amount from Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, a subsidiary of oil and gas provider Oxy.
Japan-based preventive medical care provider Linkage raised ¥550m ($4.5m) in series A funding today from investors including human resources group MyNavi and Medical Development Support Fund, a vehicle backed by medical equipment producer Neuroceuticals and run by VC firm RMD Partners. They participated alongside angel investors including Makoto Takeuchi and Hitoshi Uesawa, and the round took Linkage’s overall funding to approximately $6.6m.
Saudi Arabia-based meal delivery subscription service Dailymealz completed a SAR20m ($5.3m) pre-series A round yesterday featuring Saudi Airlines Catering, part of air carrier Saudia. The corporate was joined by Hala Ventures, MLM Investment Company, Veda Holding, Seedra Ventures and unnamed angel investors.
Effectiv, a US-based developer of no-code risk management software, secured $4m in seed capital yesterday from investors including information and analytics tool provider Relx’s corporate VC vehicle, REV. VC firm Accel led the round, which also featured unnamed individuals.
Diversified trading group Itochu provided an undisclosed amount of funding for Germany-based unmanned aerial vehicle producer Wingcopter yesterday through subsidiary Itochu Europe. The deal came three months after Wingcopter received a similarly undisclosed sum from charter jet provider Synerjet.
Japan-based agricultural robot developer HarvestX raised ¥150m ($1.2m) from investors including internet and telecommunications group SoftBank’s DeepCore Tokyo 2 unit today. University of Tokyo’s Innovation Platform also contributed to the round, as did Anri.
M&A
Investment banking firm Goldman Sachs’ Asset Management subsidiary agreed yesterday to acquire US-based retirement advice provider NextCapital Group in a deal of undisclosed size that would allow insurance and financial services provider Manulife and insurance group Transamerica to exit. NextCapital had raised a total of $85m in financing as of a $30m round in September 2020.
Telus Health, a subsidiary of telecoms firm Telus, paid an undisclosed sum yesterday to buy Sprout Wellness Solutions, a Canada-based employee wellness service provider that counts its sister unit Telus Ventures as an investor. Telus Ventures invested in Sprout in 2015 and joined Techstars Ventures to add a similarly undisclosed amount the following year. The company had already raised $1m from corporate training provider Optimé International, Techstars Ventures, Bullet Time Ventures, Dipcom Investments and Roboson Capital.
Recruitment firm Mynavi purchased Sribu, an Indonesia-headquartered provider of crowdsourced design and digital content services, for an undisclosed sum yesterday, providing an exit for enterprise software producer Asteria. The company had secured an undisclosed amount of series A funding from Asteria – then known as Infoteria – in 2014, following seed financing from East Ventures two years earlier.
Funds
Canada-headquartered, cleantech-focused venture capital firm Evok Innovations reached the first close of its $300m Fund II yesterday with backing from oil supplier Suncors and Cenovus Energy. Evok did not confirm how much it has raised so far but the fund’s limited partners also include Export Development Canada and financial services firms Royal Bank of Canada and Toronto-Dominion Bank.
Wipro Consumer Care Ventures, an investment vehicle for conglomerate Wipro’s Consumer Care & Lighting division, has committed an undisclosed amount of capital to Singapore-headquartered VC fund DSG Consumer Partners IV, VCCircle reported yesterday. The fund is a vehicle for Mauritius-registered, consumer-focused VC firm DSG Consumer Partners.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu. Image courtesy of Nreal.
